17-Nov-2007 -- To explore one of the 6 remaining "white spots" on Thailand's Confluence map, was one of the stated objectives of our holiday in November 2007. The choice fell to 18°N 98°E, and after that we wanted to take the opportunity and climb the Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest mountain.
At night we travelled by bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, where we spent two nights in SK Guesthouse. Next stop was Mae Sariang with its River House Hotel, with the magnificent, unforgettable river view.

Now the motorbike seemed to be the more promising way of transport. The only problem was: At the beginning of the holidays my driving license was confiscated for a month, Anne has never driven a motorbike, and then the driving on the left... But nevertheless next morning we rented one for 200 baht (4 Euro), and the hunting could continue. The GPS was not working due to the dense cloud cover, but such minor problems could not stop us. Learning from our predecessors, we were supplied with plenty of water and food. Even guest gifts for any warlike mountain peoples were bought :-).

We took the road to Sop Moei, which passed the point at distance of 8 km. A path, branching off to the left, led us to a dam in the jungle. Then the first accident, hand brake asunder. Never mind, there is also the foot brake! The road turns into a path, walking now? The fear of snakes, tigers (in Thailand should be some wild ones) and white elephants turns the pendulum to Plan-B: Going back on the road!

We found the next promising branch after the first gas stop in Sop Moei. Meanwhile even the GPS started to work, the mountains could come!
And they came - so steep that the plagued little bike often simply refused his services - second passenger had to push in considerable midday heat.
The pathway changed between fresh concrete runway and dirt road with erosion gullies of two feet, which extremely tested Annes young driving skills.
At a fork, we decided to go "left", and reached a spot only 1.6 km from the point – closer than any Confluencer before. Then the road turned away again. We went back to the fork, took the first rest with bananas and water, and then tried "right". Now we met the first locals, but they were friendly smiling - instead of digging for the war hatchet. We saw young elephants, but when getting closer, they turned to ordinary cows.

In a mountain village with shy children, huts on poles and dirty dogs we turned right, and found ourselves on a road winding uphill closer and closer to the magic point. Now the vegetation turned more and more into jungle. Left and right walls of green bushes, trees and lianas. Only 1 km, 800m, 600 - should the road lead directly to the point? Not really, 260m was the minimum.

Now the time came where we had to leave our faithful Honda Wave behind and walk through the "green desert". We followed an animal path, laid branches on the way as markers for our return, enjoyed the beautiful view of the valley, we were happy about the shrinking distance shown on the GPS - which suddenly became a "zero" - we had done it! Happily, we fell into our arms, but reality returned quickly: The evidence photo had to be made. After several attempts the many zeros were in the box, now the surroundings were scanned.

A mountain is only climbed when you are down again, a confluence point only found when the world knows it. We had to hurry to reach Mae Sariang before dark. After a picnic with a lovely view of the remote mountain peaks in Burma we drove nonstop back to the River House and ended the day on its river terrace with Green Curry with Coconut-Chicken, "Beer Chang", and the smell of mosquito incense. (Thanx to http://translate.google.com and Henrik Kraus for translating support)